Audio Transcription

In this episode of the Thrivetime Show Dr Z and business coach Clay Clark break down the life of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. They will get into the details of why persistence is a key to winning and the idea that failure is a prerequisite to success.

The Persistence of Pederson

Doug Irving Pederson

FUN FACTS:

He was born on January 31, 1968 in Bellingham, Washington. Where he attended high school at a nearby by town called Ferndale, Washington where he was an all-state athlete in baseball, basketball and football. He played his college football at Northeast Louisiana University where he still holds many quarterback passing records.

Doug was cut by the Dolphins 9 times before spending most of his time as a backup quarterback and placeholder for the Green Bay Packers.

Age 45 – Doug was the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs between 2013–2015.

He won Super Bowl 31 as a backup quarterback and placekicker for the Green Bay Packers when they beat the New England Patriots.

In just his second season as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles’ he was able to win Super Bowl 48 (also against the Patriots), which was the first Super Bowl victory in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles.

He is just the fourth person, to win an NFL Championship as both a player and a coach. Other winners include, Mike Ditka, Tom Flores and Tony Dungy.

The History of Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach, Doug Pederson

Lead by a Persistent Head Coach Who Was Once Cut by the Miami Dolphins 7 Times

Age 18 – Doug’s father made the decision to move the family 2,500 miles from their home in Washington to Louisiana to take a position as a division manager for a company called Columbian Chemicals.

Age 18 – Doug’s father then brought the game film of his son to Northeast Louisiana’s head football coach, Pat Collins. After the coaches watched 5 minutes of tape team was amazed. During an interview with SBNation.com, Collins remembers thinking, “Well they were gone about five minutes,” Collins told SB Nation. “They walked back in and said, ‘You got to come see this.’” When Collins saw it for himself, he was amazed. “I’m thinking, ‘God almighty! This is the guy!” He played college football at Northeast Louisiana University, which is now called University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Age 18 – While playing quarterback for Northeast Louisiana Pederson won 29 games during his four years. During 1987 he lead the team to a Division II National Championship and a 1990 Southland Conference title.

Age 20 – During one 1989 game he threw for 46 completions out of 71 attempts while racking up 619 yards of passing and 5 touchdowns versus Stephen F. Austin. Even today, Doug’s record for passing yardage in a game still stands as a single-game record for the school.

1991 – Age 23 – Pederson was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent, which means that no team felt that he was good enough to invest an actual draft pick on him during the 7 rounds of the NFL draft. This means that he was not considered to be one of the top 224 players in college to be eligible to play in the NFL (because there are 32 draft selections in each of the 7 rounds).

Failure is a Prerequisite to Success

Stephen King – The famous author who has sold over 350 million books had his first book rejected 30 times, which frustrated him so much he threw the manuscript for Carrie into the trash, but his wife made him keep working on it.

Oprah – The mogul was sexually assaulted by her uncle, cousin and a family friend. She actually giving birth at the age of 14, but went on to become the media mogul that she is today.

Thomas Edison – He and his team created over 10,000 failed experiments of their light bulb prototypes that did not work before finally created one that worked.

Walt Disney – Failed in business twice before finally succeeding with Disney.

Times When We Could Have Quit

Dr Z and Pal Hood talk about some times in their careers when they could have given up but decided to push through.

DEFINITION – The purpose of the waiver wire is to release a player from your roster. When you want to get rid of a player that you have on your roster, they are put on “waivers” which means that every other team has to “waive” on taking them and their current contract.

1991 – Age 23 – He spent the entire season without watching the NFL season as a spectator as no team decided to sign him.

1992 – Age 24 – After spending the 1991 season as a free agent, Pederson was drafted by the New York/New Jersey Knights of the NFL’s World League of American Football (WLAF) in the fifth round for their draft in February 4, 1992. He was the backup quarterback for Reggie Slack. This league was in existence from 1991 to 1992.

1992 – Age 24 – He gets married to Jeannie who he met at Johnny’s Pizza in Monroe, Louisiana.

1992 – Age 24 – After he completed the World League of American Football season was signed by the Miami Dolphins once again.

1992 – Age 24 – CUT #2 – Pederson participated in the Dolphins training camp, but was released yet again during the final roster cuts.

1992 – Age 24 – CUT #3 – Pederson was once again signed by the Dolphins, but this time he was signed to the practice squad, until he was cut and waved on October 8, 1992.

1993 – Age 25 – CUT #4 – After he completed his third training camp with the Miami Dolphins he was again waived by the team on August 31st, 1993.

1993 – Age 25 – For the second year in a row he was again signed to the Dolphin’s practice squad.

1993 – Age 25 – When Dan Marino (the team’s starting quarterback) ruptured his Achilles tendon, during a week 6 game against the Cleveland Browns on October 10th of 1993, the team inserted backup Scott Mitchell into the starting quarterback role.

1993 – Age 25 – Due to Marino’s injury, Pederson then replaced the legendary Dan Marino on the team’s active roster where he served as Mitchell’s backup for the following 4 games.

1993 – Age 25 – On October 24th, 1993, Pederson was given his first opportunity to play in a week 8 game versus the Indianapolis Colts. During this game, he helped the team’s iconis coach, Don Shula to win his NFL-record 325th game.

1993 – Age 25 – Pederson the was asked to serve as the backup to the team’s recently signed recently Steve DeBerg during the three games that Mitchell was unable to play due to injuries.

1993 – Age 25 – Pederson briefly got a chance to play during a week 14 game against the New York Giants when Steve DeBerg had to get facial stitches.